Disclaimer: DP is on Nick! All new! Every Friday! (is anyone else as stoked as I am?)

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Danny woke up with a start. He was freezing, and not just because he was on a cold cement floor. He could see his breath. Which meant there was something close by, something that wasn't human.

Danny's teeth chattered. He couldn't remember how he had gotten on the floor.

He sat up and looked around. He was alone in the boy's locker room. Or so he thought.

The hair on the back of his neck was rising as it became even colder. With a horrible sinking feeling, he realized there was something behind him.

He whipped his head around even as he pushed himself up off the ground and leapt backwards.

Tucker and Sam were just inches away from him.

"Tucker? Sam?" He shouted. "Get back, there's something here!"

And then he saw their eyes, black as coal and empty as oblivion. He swore. They bared their fangs and moved forward.

And then Danny remembered why he had been unconscious in the boy's locker room.

He looked at Tucker in horror, mentally kicking himself for being so stupid. Of course he didn't want to be under a trance for the rest of his life! But he had been prepared to fight his best friend and ignore the ghostly threat to Amity Park, just so he could live a lie. A wonderful, happy, loving lie.

He looked at Sam, at the now-twisted semblance of Sam, and felt like crying. Her skin was whiter than ever, her eyes were dead and an aura of black power swirled around her. This was the result of a love spell held too long; this was the result of twisting something beautiful and making it completely unnatural.

The rage that was building up in Danny, however, was anything but unnatural. What Ember and Desiree had done to him and his friends was completely unacceptable.

Silently, he took a fighter's stance, his eyes brightening to green. Twin circles grew from his chest outwards, enveloping his entire body until he was clad in black and silver. His hair frosted to white. He was Danny Phantom, and he was going to get his revenge.

"What, are you going to fight us?" Tucker sneered, his voice several octaves lower than usual. "Your best friends?"

"I'm going to rip you right out of their bodies," Danny said, his voice loud and strong. "You'll regret ever messing with them!"

"I highly doubt that," Sam croaked, her voice low and scratchy.

"Well start doubting!" Danny shouted, reaching behind his back. "I've got your one-way ticket to the ghost zone right…" The Thermos! Where was it?

Tucker grinned and lifted the Fenton Thermos up for Danny to see.

"Looking for this?" he rasped. Danny paled noticeably as Tucker dangled it in the air, laughing.

Sam was cocking her head to one side, as if she was listening to something far away. Tucker stopped laughing for a moment too, with a distant look in his dark eyes.

"It doesn't matter," Danny quickly recovered himself. "I don't need that to get rid of you."

Both Tucker and Sam gave him a pitying look, like one would a small child.

"No, you just need to start talking," Sam snarled. "Later."

And with that, they both rose into the air and flew out of the locker room. Through the closed door.

Danny gasped and rushed after them. They were headed straight for…Lancer's class! They phased through the door, and Danny could hear muffled screams, and a particularly high-pitched girlish shriek. He was guessing that was either Dash or Lancer.

He turned invisible and flew through the door.

Tucker and Sam were floating in front of the chalkboard, above Lancer's unconscious body. Apparently he had fainted after screaming.

The students, who Danny was sure had been yelling before, were now strangely silent.

He glanced at them and noticed, to his horror, a growing darkness surround them. They didn't see him; he floated invisibly above them.

"Our mistress commands us to rise!" Tucker was booming in a thunderous voice. "You have fulfilled the wishes of these mortals, and now shall be repaid!"

Danny wasn't liking where this was going. He had a pretty good guess of who Tucker was talking about. Only one of the crazed dead women terrorizing Amity Park granted wishes.

Student eyes glowed red. Danny bit back a gasp as Lancer rose from the floor to take his place among them, his eyes flickering like flames.

There was nothing he could do, not without the Thermos.

Intense self-loathing rose like bile in the back of his throat. There was nothing he could do. With one last glance at the gathering darkness, Danny flew out of the classroom, out of the school, above the city…to the one place he knew would provide something he could use.

Meanwhile, back at the lab…

The lab was filled with recently-modified machines and ghost-hunting weapons of all shapes and sizes.

Danny had just flown in and was floating near the ceiling. It was quiet…almost too quiet. But the coast was clear; maybe his parents were on a lunch break.

He floated to the floor and in a burst of light transformed back into his T-shirt and jeans, running his hands through his tousled black hair in frustration. How was he going to find the backup Fenton Thermos in all this mess?

Gingerly, he stepped over something that looked like a cross between a Shop Vac and a microwave to get to his Father's workbench. It was slightly less disorganized than the rest of the lab.

His eyes swept over the various electronic circuitry and tools, resting on what looked like a bat – he leaned in for a closer look – with the word "Fenton" on it. He blinked and then started searching under the counter.

His face lit up as he saw something distinctly Thermos-shaped. He reached forward to grab it.

"DANIEL FENTON!" The rage in his mother's voice was unmistakable. He snatched his hand away from the Thermos and ducked to a crouching position, hoping she really hadn't seen him. "Don't think I don't see you down there!" She shouted, her voice rising an octave.

Cringing, Danny stood up slowly. His mother was glaring at him from the stairs, holding something that looked like a large missile thrower. Danny gulped.

"Mom, what are you holding?"

She lowered the weapon and scowled. "I thought you were a ghost. Don't scare me like that again!" Her mouth set and she took a deep breath.

Here we go, Danny thought sourly. He didn't have to wait long for the explosion

"Why are you down here? WHY aren't you in school? It's only NOON, for heaven's sake!"

Danny wished he could turn invisible.

"And what are you doing down here in the lab anyway, Danny?"

"Umm…" He had to get his hands on that Thermos! Suddenly he had an idea!

He turned around and reached under the workbench to grab the Thermos, pulling it to his chest. It was heavier than his other Thermos had been, but he didn't think anything of it.

"Uh, Dad wanted me to…get this for him…" He held up the Thermos, noticing a red line down the center that definitely hadn't been on the other Thermos.

In retrospect, it really hadn't been such a brilliant idea. He hadn't even talked to his Dad.

"Oh, the new Thermos!" his mother said, her face brightening. "Jack was looking for that…" she studied Danny's face and then sighed.

"I guess he told you what's happening?"

Danny nodded mutely, wondering what the heck she was talking about.

"Well then, it looks like you're going back to school with us!" his mother raised her weapon and motioned for Danny to follow. She went quickly up the stairs and Danny ran after, fervently hoping that she hadn't become insane. Because it seemed like she had.

At least he had the Thermos.

Ok, so now he didn't have the Thermos.

Danny sat scowling in the back seat of his parent's RV as it careened around a corner, past a red light and accelerated towards his school.

He felt sick, and it wasn't just because of his Dad's lack of driving skills.

When his father had seen him, he didn't even question why Danny was home instead of at school. As soon as Jack saw what Danny was holding he couldn't contain his excitement.

"Ah, you've found the new Fenton Thermos!" Jack had reached for it and Danny had no choice but to relinquish it. "This one not only captures ghosts…" Jack paused. "Theoretically." And then he grinned. "It has a ghost detector built in, to find other ghosts in the area, and capture them as well."

Danny gulped just thinking about it. He just hoped his Dad wasn't going to use it near him.

But he might be tempted to test it out at the school. His parents' ghost sensors had detected a rather large "disturbance" at Casper High, and now they were going to "fix the situation," as his father had said.

Danny was just glad their sensors hadn't detected him…yet.

They screeched to a stop right outside his school, and his parents leapt out of the RV in their work suits, weapons of choice in hand. His mom was carrying that missile thrower thing (she'd called it a sub-molecular particle disruptor), and his dad was holding the Thermos, and a low density atomic encapsulator was attached to his arm (whatever that was).

Students were streaming out the front doors of the high school, some screaming, some floating.

In their excitement, Jack and Maddie forgot about Danny. He transformed quickly in the RV, went intangible, and flew out above his parents. Maybe they'd be able to handle this situation.

They were agitatedly waving their weapons around, pointing at students and teachers and yelling at them.

Danny couldn't hear what they were saying. Something like "Move so we can vaporize the ghosts that are terrorizing your learning establishment," or something like that.

The students who were screaming screamed louder, as they tried to run away from the ghosts and the suit-wearing adults.

And then Tucker and Sam burst out of Casper High, their black eyes flashing red. The dark aura that surrounded them billowed behind them like flickering capes.

Danny's parents were suddenly silent. And then they aimed their weapons.

In one movement, Tucker flung his right arm outwards, as Sam flung her left arm outwards. The Fenton Thermos and the sub-molecular particle disruptor went flying in opposite directions.

Maybe his parents wouldn't be able to handle the situation after all.

Danny swooped down to catch the Thermos before it fell, wondering even as he raced towards it if he should have gone for the particle disruptor instead.

Too late now, he thought, catching the Thermos with one hand. He clutched it to his chest, and then rose invisiblyabove the action once again.

Jack was pointing his low density atomic encapsulator at Tucker and Sam, and as Danny watched, he fired it.

A ray of pink energy shot towards them. Before they could move, it enveloped them, like a thick layer of strawberry Jell-O. They were frozen in place, although they still floated above the cement stairs.

Jack pumped his fist in the air as Maddie ran to retrieve the sub-molecular particle disruptor.

And then a cloud of dark energy rose above the pink goo, dancing and leaping like black flames.

There was a loud crack and Tucker and Sam burst free, fire in their eyes.

As one, they flung their arms forward at Danny's parents, sending them flying backwards, past the RV, over the road, over the line of trees that separated the school from the community...before they could go too much farther,Danny rushed after them.

Still invisible, hedropped the Thermos to the grass below, grabbed his mother's arm and his father's belt, and lowered them gently to the ground. They wereinsomeone's backyard, but Danny doubted they cared.They were still alive, that's what mattered at the moment.

Enraged, heretrieved the Thermos and raced back to the school, becoming visible as he landed next to his possessed friends.

"Now," he said loudly, to get their attention. Their black eyes fixed on him as he raised the Thermos. "Now you're going to regret messing with the Fentons."

Before he could unscrew the lid, Sam was right in front of him, her face inches away from his own.

He gasped and stepped backwards.

She smirked toothily and grabbed his shirt, pulling him towards her with inhuman strength. He wouldn't have minded being this close to Sam in any other circumstance, but in this case…

"What – what are you doing?"

She leaned forward so that her mouth brushed his ear. An icy chill went down his spine as she began talking.

"Isn't this your deepest desire?" Sam asked in a guttural rasp. "Isn't this what you want?"

Danny would have dropped the Thermos if Sam hadn't been pressed so closely against him. She moved her head back so that her eyes were locked onto his, still managing to stay as close as ever.

He looked intothem with growing horror. They were filled with the blackness of despair, and he could feel himself falling into them. It wasn't pleasant, as looking into her amethyst eyes had been. He could feel himself getting lost in the darkness.

He struggled to get away, but she grabbed his shoulders with hands so cold they burned right through the fabric of his suit, making it impossible for him to move.

He yelled in pain. "Sam – No! Stop!"

For a moment, she hesitated. Danny could see a flicker of lavender flutter across her irises. And then it was consumed by darkness.

"I'll give you what you want," she snarled, closing the gap between them.

Harshly, she pressed her icy lips against his, burning him again. This was a thousand times more painful than the touch of her hands. He couldn't contain the scream that was bubbling up inside of him, and when his mouth opened she forced herself inside.

He felt like his soul was being torn into a million pieces, burned and scattered in the wind by this icy fire. Tears clouded his green eyes with pain.

He fell into despair, letting it envelop him until he was no more, just a shadow in the gathering darkness, incapable of feeling pain. Everything seemed so far away. He knew that Sam – no, not Sam, but an evil mockery of Sam – was still kissing him, brutally, but it seemed unimportant somehow.

His mind was filled with the memory of Sam. Sam, who helped him with homework, who took care of him when he was sick, who could make him laugh in the face of danger, who loved him even though he was different – the real Sam.

And even in the depths of despair, he felt a glimmer of hope, and he latched onto that. The Sam he knew, the Sam he had fallen in love with – she was worth protecting, she was worth going into the very heart of evil to destroy it and take her back. He could feel his strength returning as he rose above the darkness.

And suddenly he could feel again. His mouth was on fire, as the not-Sam savagely covered it with her own, stealing his breath from him. He was pressed limply to her body, and would have fallen otherwise.

But with a burst of sudden strength, he pushed the not-Sam backwards. She went flying into Tucker, a surprised look on her face, as they crashed through the front doors of Casper High, disappearing inside the school.

And Danny wiped his mouth with one sleeve, disgusted, before flying after them to reclaim his friends.

Joseph - thanx for the review, I really appreciate reviews like yours:)

OK - NO more chapters until I get at least 10 reviews. I'm serious - they have to be good reviews too (not necessarily good reviews - I'll take criticism too,but more than just one word, like "update!").

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